A Hogwarts Carol
by PersonWhoWritesStuff
Summary: A twist on Charles Dicken's A Chistmas Carol. Set in the sixth year, Ron has four ghosts come to him in the night, telling him to change his ways, not about his greediness around Christmas, but about the best friend he's hurting.
1. Chapter 1

Ron Weasley layed in his bed awake. It was 12 in the morning, and he was the only one in the dormitory unable to sleep. He was thinking about his girlfriend, Lavender Brown.

Why was he with her? Because she was, for lack of a better word, easy? Because he was stupid?

He knew why he snogged her in the first place: he wanted to snog someone, to prove to Ginny that he had experience, to end being the only one of his friends who had not snogged anyone, it was hard to ignore Lavender flirting with him, and the evil side of him wanted Hermione, his best friend, to feel the pain that he had felt when he discovered she had kissed Krum.

Mainly it was just so he could snog someone in front of everyone. He had thought about snogging Hermione, but he hated himself for just imagining exploiting her in that way. He didn't care what other people thought of Lavender.

Right as his thoughts started to drift from him, and he was about fall asleep, a loud "BANG!" made him sit up, wide awake.

After several moments of silence, Ron began to think he had imagined it, after all, it seemed no one else in the room had woken up to it.

" . . . Harry?" Ron whispered to the room, then "BANG!" It happened again

This time Ron jumped out of his bed, and ran over to Harry's bed to wake him up, but when he got there, Harry's bed was empty.

"Whaa-Harry!" Ron looked around desperately but all of the beds were empty, and even made, as if no one had even touched them.

Ron froze, not knowing what to do. He could feel his heart beating rappidly in his chest.

"BANG!"

He jumped, and realized that the noise was coming from outside the dormitory door. He ran to other side of the room and crouched in a corner, feeling like a child, but, frankly, not caring.

"BANG!" it sounded much closer this time.

Ron closed his eyes, waiting for a fifth bang. But there was none. Instead, the eerie sound of a door opening.

Ron opened one eye and peeked at the door. It was wide open, and he heard foot steps climbing up the stairs to the dormitory.

A figure appeared in the doorway. A pale, ghostlike, figure.

This was not what made Ron scared, he has seen many ghosts before, but never one that could either open a door, or perform magic to open a door.

When the ghostlike figure came into the light of the moon, Ron immediately recognized who it was.

"Uncle . . . Billius?" he said quietly. Billius looked much like he had before he died, only paler, and transparent.

Billius looked at Ron, "Hello, Ronald," he said in a tired voice.

"Wha-what's going on? I didn't know you came back as a ghost! What are you doing here?"

"I am only back for one night," his uncle told him, "There are some things you need to know, important lessons you must learn." His uncle went and sat down on a bed, which was very odd, for Ron, because he had never seen a ghost sit before.

"I-I don't understand . . ." Ron said, sitting on the bed across from his dead uncle, "lessons I must learn?"

"Yes, Ron" Billius said, "You see, I came here tonight to warn you not to go the way that I have gone."

"What are you talking about?"

"I am talking about dying alone. And forever being unhappy, feeling unfulfilled."

"What do you mean? You were never unhappy!"

"Well, yes, when I was alive. But now I am dead, and I have never truly felt love. This is something I would not wish upon my worst enemy, let alone my young, naive, nephew."

"So-wait-hang on- you came all the way _back from the dead _to give me . . . _girl _advice! Why not tell me something more important, like what happens after you die, or what is the one true religion!"

"This much more than simple _girl _advice!" Billius scolded, "This is advice that will affect your entire future and destiny!"

"I still don't get it! Why me? What am I doing wrong! Fred or George seem much more the type to be messing things up, or going the way you went!"

"Fred and George are right on the path of their destiny. They have opened up a shop that is doing very well in such dark times. They are living off their passion." he explained, "You, on the other hand, are confused. You seem to be pushing your destiny further and further away from you almost every day."

"But, if this is about _love_ and what-not, how come you had such a happy life? I mean, if you didn't need anyone alive, why would you need someone when you're dead? You loved single life!"

"Alright, fine," Billius admitted, "I had a good life. _But_, that is because I've never been in love, so I have never felt what it is like to not be with someone I love. But you have had the very unfortunate, yet fortunate, experience of love. But you seem determined to ignore it! And that is exactly why I'm here, to tell you to _knock it off_!"

Ron sat there, silent for a few moments. Then he finally said, "You can't tell me what to do . . . you're dead!"

Billius sighed, "I suppose I cannot tell you what to do, but I know some folks who may be able to convince you."

Ron furrowed his brow, "What do you mean? Who?"

"Three ghosts will be visiting you tonight. The ghost of your past, the ghost of your present and the ghost of your future. Perhaps they will make you see the error of your ways."

"What do you mean ghost of my past? Who are you talking about?"

But rather than going into further explanation, Billius simply walked toward the window, as it opened on it's own, and walked right out of it, but rather than plummetting to the ground beneath him, he rose, and, sort of, floated toward the sky, and eventually disapeared.

Ron stared after him, questioning his own sanity.

* * *

more chapters to come (of course)!

hope you enjoyed, and please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry this took so long. :/ wasn't my fault, it was school.

also, i did not write any of the dialogue from the past/flashbacks/whatever

* * *

Ron stayed in the dormitory for several moments, wondering if he should go downstairs and look for Harry, or Neville, Seamus, Dean, _anyone_!

Then he got up and ran to the door. _Weird, _He didn't remember his uncle closing the door. . ?

When he opened it, the stairway was pitch black. Normally it was dark at night, but he could always see the outline of the staircase, but this time he couldn't even make out the first step. When he tried stepping down with one foot, he felt nothing. He tried reaching lower; perhaps the step was further down than he remembered? Nothing.

He suddenly got the sensation that he was standing on a cliff, and quickly pulled his foot back up and slammed the door shut.

Ron started pacing the room. He was trapped. He was confused. He had no idea where any of his friends were. Then he got an idea.

He ran over to Harry's trunk and started rummaging through his things, until he found what he was looking for.

An old piece of parchment was at the bottom of the trunk. Ron quickly picked it up, and without thinking, said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" The map started revealing itself, which confused Ron, because he only just realized he wasn't even holding his wand. He shrugged it off and searched the map for the Gryffindor common room.

No one was there.

Then he looked to the Great Hall.

Empty.

Then he looked to all of the other common rooms. Then all of the classrooms. Then all of the dormitories. Then all of the offices.

There was not a single soul in the building. He didn't even see his own name in the Gryffindor boy's dormitory.

He threw the map to floor in frustration, muttering, "Useless!"

He then ran back over to his bed, grabbing his wand off the bed side table.

"Lumos!" he exclaimed, and the room filled with a bright silvery light.

Ron ran back to the door and opened it, pointing his wand into the staircase. This time he could see the stairs.

He stepped down to the first step, to make sure it was really there. It was. He then ran down the rest of the spiral stairs, until he did a complete circle going down them, and found a door. He instinctively opened it and ran into the room.

Looking around, he realized he was in the exact same room he was just in. He could tell because there was map in the middle of the floor, where he threw it.

"What the bloody hell!" he shouted, as he went back to the door, opened it, and was about to look and see if there were any stairs going even further down, so he could try to get to the common room, but a voice spoke up from behind him.

"It's called a paradox."

Ron whipped around, and saw none other than Luna Lovegood, sitting on one of the beds.

"Luna!" he exclaimed. She was wearing a long white dress with long sleeves, she had a crown, or halo, of white flowers on her head, and she seemed to have a bright silvery glow around her, not unlike the glow of a lumos charm.

"I'm not actually Luna," she said, "I just took the form of her, tonight."

"Erm . . . what?" Ron was more confused than he had ever been in his entire life.

"I always take the form of someone that is close to whoever I'm talking to." She got up from the bed and started walking toward him.

"Uh . . . alright . . ? Well, I'm not . . . that close to Luna . . ."

"Well, I always like to be in the form of a girl. And I shouldn't look like Hermione, since she's the reason I'm here. It probably wouldn't help make you any less confused."

"Well, not to . . . erm . . . tell you how to do your job or anything, but what about Ginny, or Lavender?"

"Well, you're mad at Ginny right now, and you may think you're close to Lavender, but, trust me, you're not."

Ron stood still, not knowing what to say, just staring at, what appeared to be, Luna.

"Shall we begin, then?" She asked.

Ron furrowed his brow, "Begin what?"

"Well, surely your uncle told you why I am here. To convince to stop running away from your destiny."

"Al-alright . . ." Ron just stood there awkwardly, waiting for the Luna imposter to say something. After a long, silent pause, he finally said, "So, um, now what?"

"You follow me . . ." she walked toward the door that Ron had come from.

"What about the stairs?"

She smiled at him, seemingly amused, "I think they've been fixed . . ."

Ron hated how the things around him kept changing, but he slowly followed her out the door, anyway.

The first thing he noticed was the light. It seemed it was daytime.

He then realized they were in a crowded corridor, and he became very aware that he was in his pajamas.

"Where are we!" he yelled at the ghost, "I'm in my bloody pajamas!"

"Don't worry, no one can see you," she assured him.

"They can't?" Ron found this hard to believe, but then he saw a group of first years walk right by him, and didn't even seem to notice him. "What part of Hogwarts is this?" he asked, seeing their uniforms, and recognizing the hallway.

"Of course," she answered, "I told you, I am the ghost of you and Hermione's past. We are where your relationship started. Actually, you should be wondering _when _we are."

"Err, Okay? _When _are we?" he asked, almost impatiently.

"You're first year. The very day you and Hermione became friends, in fact."

Ron then looked around, half expecting a troll to pop out of nowhere. He remembered the day Hermione became his and Harry's third Amigo very well.

"Don't you remember?" the ghost asked him, noticing his confused expression.

"Yes . . . but it was night time when we saved her from the troll . . ?"

She smiled at him and shook her head, "Yes, but don't you remember why you had to save her from the troll in the first place?"

Then, with a pang of guilt, it came back to him. The things he had said about her, only to realize she was right behind him, causing her to be in the girls' bathroom, crying, when the troll was released into the castle.

"Right . . ." he said.

"You shouldn't feel guilty about it now," she told him, "If you had never complained about her, you would not be friends with her today . . . well, up until a few months ago, at least."

"We're still friends," Ron argued, "we're just . . . not talking."

"Sure," she said, with a very skeptical look. Then she looked over his shoulder and said, "Look, here you come,"

Ron turned around and saw a much shorter version of himself and Harry walking out of a classroom.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he heard himself say. He suddenly felt the urge to tell his first year self to shut up, because he then saw a much shorter version of Hermione walking up behind him, "she's a nightmare, honestly."

Then he saw Hermione push by his younger self, tears in her eyes. He saw the look of realization and awkwardness on his own face, and remembered the feeling of surprise when he learned that the annoying, bossy girl could cry, much less ever feel insulted.

"Do you remember now?" the ghost asked him.

"Yeah . . ." he said, feeling as awkward as his younger self looked.

"Alright, then we can leave. Let's go to a much happier time."

Then with that she grabbed his shoulder, and in a second, they were somewhere completely different, as if they had dissaparated.

When he looked around, he saw that they were in the stands of the quidditch field. He then saw himself, a little taller than before, but still much younger than himself now. He was sitting with Hermione, talking to her, but they were too far away to tell what they were saying.

He looked at the ghost, about to ask her what was going on now, when he saw the Gryffindor quidditch team emerge from the locker rooms, Harry with them. Then he saw the Slytherin team appear at the other end of the field. He knew it wasn't a game because the only ones in the stands were him and Hermione.

Then he saw a young Draco Malfoy with the Slytherin team, and he knew that he was watching a scene from his second year.

"Is this the 'happier time?'" he asked the ghost.

"Yes. Well, sort of. It's more of a time when you showed you really cared for Hermione."

He looked back at his younger self. Now, he and the younger Hermione were walking across the field to the two teams.

"Come on," the ghost said, walking toward them so they could hear what they were all saying better.

The older Ron followed her. When they got close enough, he could hear Malfoy talking.

". . . no one asked your opinion, you filthy little mudblood!"

After the moment where everyone processed what he had said, and the people in red gasped and yelled at him, and the ones in green snickered and sneered, Ron heard his own voice say, "You'll pay for that, Malfoy!" and when Ron looked, he saw his younger self approach Malfoy with his wand out and pointed.

It was then that he remembered what happened next, and cringed a second before he saw his younger self fall backward, and a moment later turn around and vomit up a pile of slugs.

"See?" said the ghost, which made Ron jump because he had momentarily forgotten she was there, "See how much you cared about her?"

Ron shrugged. It didn't really seem like that much of a big deal to him, sticking up for his friend, especially to Malfoy.

"Need some more convincing, huh?" the ghost asked, and without waiting for an answer, she grabbed his shoulder, and in the next second, they were somewhere new.

Ron looked around. They were in the Great Hall. Only, it was decorated so extravagantly, he knew he had only seen like this once before: in his fourth year. It was with great displeasure, that he realized they were at the Yule Ball.

"I'm guessing by the look on your face, you know where we are?" she asked.

Ron answered by sighing, and rolling his eyes.

"Do you know _why _we're here?"

"Because it was an awful night for me, and you want me to relive it all . . ?"

"Close. It's an important part of you two's relationship."

Ron did not reply to this. Instead, he pretended to be fascinated by the band playing.

Then he noticed the table that he, Harry, and Padma were sitting at. He didn't want to go near them, but the ghost started walking toward the table, and he felt obligated to follow her.

Right as they got up to the table, a very beautiful, fourth year Hermione approached them. The younger Ron was looking at everything but her, but the present Ron couldn't look away from her. It seemed he had forgotten how dazzling she was that night.

"Like what you see?" the ghost smirked.

Ron looked at her, "W-what?"

"Shh! You're talking!"

Ron looked at his fourteen year old self, and grimaced at the dress robes he was wearing.

"Hasn't he asked you to call him _Vicky _yet?" He asked.

The present Ron then felt stupid for ever having said this.

"What's up with you?" Hermione asked him, obviously clueless to why Ron had taken on such a tone.

"If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you."

After a moment of Hermione looking from Ron to Harry, confusedly, she said, "Ron, what-?"

"He's from Durmstrang! He's competing against Harry! Against Hogwarts! You-you're . . . _fraternizing with the enemy, _that's what you're doing!"

"Did you really believe that?" the ghost asked the present Ron.

"Err, well, I-I don't . . . remember . . ." He muttered.

"You can tell me, you know. It's not like I'm going to tell anybody: I'm a ghost that can take the form of other people, and show them their past; I think I have better things to talk about."

"Well . . . It was partly true . . ."

"What part wasn't true?"

"Uh, probably the part where I really care about him being against Hogwarts . . ."

"Hmm," She looked thoughtful for a moment, ". . . So, you felt he was the 'enemy,' but not because he was competing against Hogwarts . . . I wonder what that's all about . . ?"

It was clear that she didn't actually wonder anything, so Ron looked away, avoiding answering. Luckily for him, his younger self was talking again.

"What happened-trying to get him to join _spew _were you?"

"No, I wasn't! If you _really _want to know, he-he said he'd been coming up to the library every day to try and talk to me, but he hadn't been able to pluck up the courage!"

As she said this, she began blushing madly.

"Yeah, well-that's his story,"

"Now, why wouldn't you believe her?" the ghost asked.

But Ron didn't seem to hear her. He was watching himself so intently. He then turned to her and asked, "Was I really that nasty?"

Because he seemed so sincere, she didn't want to answer with a sarcastic remark. Instead, she gave him an apologetic shrug.

Realizing this was a yes, Ron turned back to the scene in front of them, in horror.

" . . . He's just trying to get closer to Harry-get inside information on him-or get near enough to jinx him-"

The ghost looked at Ron uneasily, "You get the point, right?"

Ron didn't answer.

"Alright, then . . . I suppose we could go somewhere else now . . ." she grabbed his shoulder again, and it seemed, not as though they had gone somewhere new, but as if all of the decorations in the Great Hall had suddenly disappeared.

When Ron looked around, he saw himself, but just around the same age he was now. He looked ill and extremely nervous. With a jolt, he realized it was the day of his first ever quidditch match.

"What does this have to do with anything?" he asked.

"Just watch-" she said, but then she saw the real Luna Lovegood, sitting by them at the Gryffindor table, wearing her lion-head hat. The ghost looked at her very curiously, then turned to Ron and asked, "Is she well?"

Ron shrugged, "She's different, but we all like her, just the same. You get used to her."

"Hmm . . ." the ghost replied still looking unsure, but then turned her attention toward the others at the table, as they all stood up.

The present Ron saw Hermione whisper something to Harry, then his fifteen year old self wandered up to them. He remembered how out of it he had felt that day.

Then Hermione spoke, "Good luck, Ron," then stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Isn't that sweet?" The ghost asked, completely sincerely.

"Yeah, adorable . . ." he replied sarcastically, but couldn't help but notice there was a slight tingle, at that moment, on the cheek that she had kissed, even though it was over a year ago.

"But look at you," the ghost argued, "You look so much better after she kisses you! I mean, if she had fully snogged you on the mouth, you probably would've saved every quaffle!"

"That's ridiculous," Ron said with a blank face. Then after a moment, he said, "So is this it? Is this all you wanted to show me?"

Before answering, the ghost grabbed his shoulder one last time, and in the next second they were back in the dormitory, and it was night time again.

"You didn't learn anything from this?" She asked him, looking dissapointed.

"What exactly was I supposed to have learned?"

"Well, you were supposed to have at least realized how important Hermione is to you. I mean, those were only a few of _many _examples!"

"I already know how important Hermione is to me . . ." Ron said slowly.

"Then why are you treating her so badly?"

Ron didn't know how to answer this, so he just pressed his lips together, and stared hard at the floor, and the ghost could tell by his face, that he didn't exactly know why himself.

After a very long moment, she finally said, "Well . . . I need to be on my way then. It was nice meeting you." She turned toward the door.

Ron looked up, "Is that it then?"

The ghost looked back, "'It?' Weren't you listening to your uncle? There will be _three _ghosts visiting you tonight. I was just the first."

"And who will the other ghosts look like?"

She shrugged, "Whoever they feel like. While your waiting for the next, sit here and think about what changed between you and Hermione. And why. Actually you should know why. If you didn't, I might have to smack you. You do know why, don't you!"

Ron thought for a moment, "Er . . . Lavender . . ."

The ghost smiled, "Hey, look at that, you're not a complete idiot," she turned back toward the door, "Well, goodnight," and then she left.

For a moment, Ron thought to himself, where she could possibly be going, but his next thought was that it didn't matter, for this was just a bizarre dream. However, it was not at all a useless dream; it certainly got him thinking . . .

He went over and sat down on his bed, everything he had just seen. The ghost had said that those were just a few of many examples. He then thought about his fourth year. Why did he feel such resentment toward Viktor Krum, who had once been his hero, after that year? Why did he rip off the limbs of the Viktor Krum miniture he had bought? Why did he feel so angry when he imagined the famous seeker snogging his best friend? Why did he care? Hermione was supposed to be _just _his friend. Nothing more.

His thoughts were interuppted, however, by the sound of knocking.

Before could answer the door, though, it swung open, and the one knocking let themself in.

* * *

hope you enjoyed this chapter! and i did get the paradox idea from inception. wasn't that an awesome movie? i loved it!

anywho, please review. i did not mean for that to rhyme... sorry.

also, i have a vague idea of who the ghost of the present should be, but who do YOU think it should be?


	3. Chapter 3

hope you like who i decided to be the next ghost... :3

* * *

It was . . . Hagrid.

Or perhaps not.

Ron remembered when he first thought the ghost of the past was Luna. Did this ghost also change into the form of someone he knew? Must be, it seemed the least likely of times that Hagrid would show up.

"Er . . . hello," Ron said, feeling like he just wanted to get this whole night over with, "Who are you . . ?"

"I am the Ghost of the Present!" he boomed at Ron. He was a lot more intimidating than the real Hagrid.

Ron could only stare at him, not knowing what to say.

"I am going to be showing you just how much your selfishness is affecting your, or at least what used to be your, friend," he continued.

"Why do people keep saying we're not friends anymore! ?" Ron said irritably, "We're still friends, we're just not talking to each other right now!"

"Are you sure about that?" the ghost asked, "Do believe she still considers you a friend?"

"Well-I-yeah!" he answered, "Why wouldn't she?"

"Perhaps she doesn't think that a friend would would cruelly imitate, and pick on, her in class," the ghost argued.

"She laughed at my mustache!"

"Two wrongs don't make a right. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

"If I wanted to hear cliches, I would've talked to my mum . . ."

The ghost sighed, "But you get the point, though, right?" he asked, "When someone makes fun of you, or does something you don't like, you should always be the bigger person, and forgive them."

Ron rolled his, "Yeah, sure, whatever . . ."

"Can you tell me something?" the ghost asked.

"What?"

"Why is it, exactly, you and Hermione aren't 'speaking with each other?'"

"Uh . . ." Ron, it seemed, never expected to have to answer this question, "Well . . . because I started dating Lavender, and I suppose Hermione . . . didn't like that . . ."

The ghost looked at him skeptically, "Are you sure that's when it started? It didn't start before that . . ?"

"Well," he said sheepishly, "maybe it started a little before that . . . when I got mad at her for not believing I could save all those goals without the felix felicis . . ."

"But didn't you, yourself, believe that? At least until you found out you _weren't _under the influence of the liquid luck? And did you really believe Hermione, one of your closest friends, didn't have that much confidence in you, or were you just looking for a reason to be angry with her, because the actual reason was . . . well, un_reason_able?"

"The first one," Ron answered stubbornly, "Definitely the first one. Besides, what other reason did I have to be angry with her?"

"Well, you really didn't, but that didn't stop you from being surly with her after your sister revealed to you something about her . . . something you didn't like . . ." The ghost looked at him, expecting him to figure out what he was hinting at.

There was a short moment where Ron did look guilty, but then he just went back to his stubborn expression and said, "I didn't really care about that . . ."

The ghost sighed, "Well, at least you're not denying that you know what I'm talking about . . ."

"Right," Ron said dismissevely, "Is this all you're here for? Just going to talk to me the whole night?"

He narrowed his eyes at Ron, then said, "All right. Follow me . . ."

The ghost lead Ron out of the dormitory door, as the last ghost had, and when they got through the door, Ron thought, for a moment, that they hadn't left the boy's dorm, but then he saw people in these beds.

"Where are we?" he whispered, as to not wake the people sleeping.

"The girls dormitory." The ghost answered.

"So this is what it looks like . . ." Ron said, though, the room looked almost exactly like the boys dormitory. When he peered through the darkness, he could see that Parvati Patil was in the bed closest to them.

"Isn't this a little weird?" he asked, "Especially with us being here while they're asleep?"

"I'm the ghost of the present, and this is what's going on in the present," the ghost explained, "Besides, look over there. _She's_ not sleeping."

Ron looked where the ghost pointed to, and, sure enough, in the bed farthest from Parvati's, a girl was sitting upright, reading a book by the light from her wand. It was Hermione.

"C-can't she see us! ?" Ron whispered urgently.

"Of course not!" the ghost said, "Don't be stupid."

"What's she doing?"

"Why don't you go see . . ?"

Ron looked up at the ghost. He was being completely serious.

Feeling extremely awkward, Ron walked over to her. He walked gingerly across the floor, afraid that one step would make her jump, look up, and see him.

When he got closer, he saw that the book was just a text book for one of her classes.

"She's just doing her homework. What's so unusual about that?"

"She was just barely given that book today, and she's already almost finished it."

"What's so different about that? I mean, what does this have to _do_ with anything?"

"Well, do you think she would be up so late, studying, if she wasn't really just trying to get her mind off things?"

"Probably . . ."

"Well she wouldn't!" he argued, "She does value sleep!"

It was obvious Ron wasn't convinced.

Then the dormitory door opened. Both Hermione and Ron looked up.

Ginny had walked in.

"Oh, good, Hermione, you're still awake! Thank God!" She whispered.

"Ginny," Hermione said, "What are you still doing up?"

Ginny looked desperate, "Alright, I'm _really_,_ really _sorry, but I was sort of wondering . . . if you could help me with this History of Magic essay . . ?"

Hermione looked at her sternly, "Ginny! You should've started that hours ago!"

Ginny walked over to Hermione's bed and sat at the end of it. She had a text book, a piece of parchment, and a quil with her.

"I've been working on it since seven, I swear!"

Hermione sighed, "Fine. Let me see it . . ."

As Ron watched this, he, strangely, started missing the times Hermione would help him with his homework. Even the lectures she would give him about it.

"Uh, Ginny? Did you _mean_ to write 'One rebellion in 1612 took place in the dresser?' Because I'm pretty sure you meant to write '_Hogsmeade_ . . .'"

Ginny looked extremely confused for a moment, then said, "Oh . . . I think I wrote that because at the time someone asked me if I had seen their jumper . . ."

At this, Hermione started laughing. Then Ginny joined in.

Lavender then stirred in her sleep. They both immediately stopped laughing, and watched her nervously.

After a moment, however, Lavender just turned on her side and muttered, "Won-won . . ."

Ron cringed, but stayed looking at Hermione and Ginny.

Hermione turned back to Ginny's book, but this time she was glaring at it.

Ginny frowned, "My brother's an idiot . . ."

Hermione ignored her.

"You know," she whispered, "the only reason he's dating her is because I told him he's the only one of us whose hasn't snogged anyone . . ."

Hermione looked up, "You told him I kissed Krum?"

"Well . . ." Ginny said squeemishly, "I didn't mean to. But he was yelling at me for snogging Dean. so I told him that Harry's kissed Cho, and that you kissed Krum, and he was the only one who hasn't kissed anyone . . ."

"Well, that wasn't very nice . . ."

Ginny raised her eyebrows, "You're defending him?"

"No!" Hermione said immediately, " . . . but he's your brother, it's almost inevitable that he's going to yell at you for snogging someone. You didn't have to rub it in his face. Plus I didn't want you to tell anyone I had snogged Krum!"

"I know . . ." Ginny smiled, "but maybe I wanted him to realize that you might not be on the market for much longer . . ."

Hermione looked back down at the book, "I don't know what you mean by that . . ."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "He so fancies you. I know because back at home I found his diary and he had 'Mr. Hermione Granger' written all over it."

She looked back up at Ginny, and they both burst out laughing in the next second. They eventually had to cover their mouths with their hands so they would not wake up everyone else in the room.

When their laughter died down, the topic of their conversation went back to goblin rebellions.

Ron walked back over to the ghost.

"Well?" said the ghost, "What did you learn?"

"Ginny's a prat."

"What-?"

"I don't have a diary! especially not one that says 'Mr. Hermione Granger' all over it . . ."

The ghost sighed, "I'm pretty sure Hermione understood that that was a _joke_ . . ."

"_Still_ . . ." Ron mumbled.

The ghost frowned, "All right, even though this goes against all my principals, it looks like I'm going to have to show you . . . earlier this school year!"

"Why does that go against your principals . . ?" Ron was expecting him to say something a bit more dramatic.

"Because!" He barked, "I'm the ghost of the _present_! Although, I suppose it does still go with how you're _presently_ treating her."

Ron rolled his eyes, and the next thing he knew, he was in the Transfiguration classroom.

When he looked around, he saw himself, Harry, Hermione, and Lavender all in the room.

Then he saw himself, with his hand, high in the air, practically bouncing in his seat, when McGonagall's back was turned.

"Any guesses who I am?" he whispered, as Lavender and Parvati laughed.

Hermione glared at him, but then turned in her seat and didn't look back for the rest of class.

With the angle Ron was standing at now, he was able to see her face. She looked angry, but he could clearly see a small tear roll down to her cheek before she wiped it away.

When the class ended, she bolted from the room. This time Ron, and the ghost, followed her.

They ended up following her to a bathroom.

When she went in, Ron stopped, looking sheepish, "I can't go in there."

"No one can see you. And she's not actually_ going_ to the bathroom."

Ron hesitated. He waited until he saw Luna go into the bathroom, then he slipped in behind her.

There were loud sobs coming from one stall. Luna looked at it curiously, then said, "Hermione? Is that you?"

Hermione stopped sobbing, and slowly opened the stall door, "Hi Luna," she said in a weak voice, wiping tears from her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" Luna asked.

Hermione shook her head, "Just stupid Ron . . ."

Luna frowned, "Ron Weasley? He _can_ be very rude sometimes, can't he? What did he do?"

"He was making fun of me in Transfiguration. And now I've left my bag! I'll have to go back . . ." she sniffed.

Luna put her hand on Hermione's should, "It's alright, Hermione. I'll go with you . . ."

When they emerged from the bathroom-Ron included-Harry was there, with Hermione's bag in his hand.

Ron got a cringing feeling of guilt in the pit of his stomach.

Hermione thanked Harry, and left.

The next thing Ron new, he was back in his dormitory, with the ghost that looked like Hagrid, and it was night time again.

"I didn't know I made her cry . . ." was the first thing Ron said.

"Perhaps you shouldn't have made fun of her?"

He didn't say anything to this.

"Alright, well," the ghost said, "There's not much left I can show you, so I'll just be on my way. The next ghost should be here soon. 'Evening . . ."

Then, as quickly as he had appeared, but not nearly as dramatically, he turned, ducked down to fit through the door, and was gone.

Ron walked over and sat on his bed. He wondered if he would've apologized sooner to Hermione if he had known he made cry.

Also, she didn't want Ginny to tell him that she had kissed Krum. Sure, she said she didn't want Ginny to have told _anyone_, but she seemed keen on letting _everyone_ know she was going to the Christmas party with Cormac.

Then she defended Ron for yelling at Ginny. She understood why he had yelled at Ginny. Did this . . . _mean_ something?

As he thought about it, the door opened again, and Ron's insides froze when he saw the last ghost.

* * *

ooooh cliff hanger... :O

but please, lower your expectations to a point wher ther is no possible way i wont shock you... and im not saying the next ghost is predictable, i just...really want you to be surprised... :\

and please review!


	4. Chapter 4

this chapter was actually supposed to be up TWO WEEKS AGO, but the site wasn't letting me update any of my stories until this morning.

* * *

This ghost was not in the form of anyone familiar to him. It just took the form of a dementor. Even though Ron knew this wasn't a real dementor, he still felt cold, and depressed at the sight of it.

The ghost did not say anything, which did not surprise Ron since dementors don't talk themselves. Instead, the ghost just motioned for Ron to follow him out the door of the dormitory.

Ron hesitated at the sight. This turned out to be a bad idea, he found out, because the ghost lunged forward at him, causing Ron to yelp. He attached himself to Ron's arm, and dragged him through the dormitory door.

When Ron opened his eyes, he saw that they were just yards away from a church. It was now day time, and apparently sometime in the fall. The sky was gray and there was a forest full of dead trees just beyond the church.

"Um, why are we at a church . . ?" Ron asked slowly.

The ghost just motioned him forward, and pointed at a sign.

When Ron was finished reading it, his jaw dropped in horror.

"No . . ." he whispered.

The ghost nodded eerily.

"No!" Ron argued defiantly.

The ghost nodded again.

Ron stared wide-eyed at the ghost. Then he looked from the ghost to the sign and back again.

"NO!" he yelled, his voice full of desperation. He pounded his fists against the sign in anger.

Before Ron could break down the sign, the ghost grabbed his arm and pulled him up to the church.

"I don't want to go in there! I don't want to see that!" He yelled, struggling to pull away from the ghost.

But the ghost was much stronger than Ron. He pulled him up to the church, then through one of the walls.

The church was very small. When they got inside, they had a perfect view of the front. There, Ron saw himself, looking stony, all the life gone from his face.

In the next moment, music began playing, everyone in the pews stood up, the door behind the pews opened, and there was Lavender Brown in a long white dress.

"I'm not going to marry her!" Ron said, watching in horror as she walked down the aisle, "This is _not_ going to happen!"

When she got to the altar, he realized they were both older. It looked like this scene was about seven years into the future.

When Lavender looked at him, he grimaced. Or perhaps it was meant to be a smile, the current Ron couldn't tell.

By this point, Ron was in complete shock. All he could do was watch as the minister spoke, then Ron spoke, then Lavender spoke, and in the next moment she was on him, like the first time they had kissed.

He looked at the ghost, "I'm gonna be sick. Can we just get out of here?"

The ghost grabbed Ron's shoulder, and in the next second, they were outside again. This time, however, Ron found himself looking at a small, cozy, house. It appeared they were out, somewhere in the country.

The ghost grabbed his arm, and pulled him toward the house. This time, Ron had no objections, for he had no idea whose house this was, or what was going on inside it.

On the other side of the wall, there was a man sitting at a kitchen table, reading the Daily Prophet.

At first, the man was only vaguely familiar to Ron, then he recognized who it was.

"Oh god . . ." he groaned, the nauseous feeling he got earlier only getting worse, "Don't . . . don't tell me-"

"Morning Viktor," someone said, cheerfully.

Ron looked up and watched as, none other than, Hermione Granger strode into the room. Before sitting down at the table, she wrapped her arms around the man from behind, and kissed the side of his head.

"Morning," Krum replied, "Haff you heard about this?"

He held out the paper, his finger pointing to a small article.

The ghost then gestured toward the paper Krum was holding. Ron walked around, to get to an angle that he could see the article at.

It was announcing the engagement of himself and Lavender.

"No, I haven't," Hermione said casually. Then looking off into space she said, "Hm. I haven't spoken to Ron in _years_."

Ron groaned again.

"Strange, I was just having tea with his sister not a week ago, and she didn't say anything . . . I used to fancy him, you know," she chuckled.

Krum smiled, "Vell he vos an idiot for ditching you for her," he pointed at Lavender in the picture. "Of course, I'm glad he didn't realize what he was missing . . . might've snatched you up before I could . . ."

Hermione smiled too, looking at Krum adoringly, "Me too . . ." she slowly leaned in, and soon the two were kissing.

Ron couldn't look away. He could only stare at them, completely disgusted.

Suddenly, Hermione pulled away, "Oh!" she gasped, beaming, "That reminds me-!"

She jumped out of her seat, ran to the fridge, and came back with a pink box.

"Hannah came by last night and dropped these off," she opened the box, and inside there seemed to be several slices of cake.

Krum raised an eyebrow, "Cake?"

"They're samples of different kinds," she said, exasperatedly, "for _our_ wedding!"

"I thought we were going with chocolate . . ?"

"Yes, but there are so many different _kinds_ of chocolate! There's double chocolate, triple chocolate, double and triple chocolate swirl, chocolate chip, rich dark chocolate . . ."

Krum rolled his eyes, but otherwise laughed.

As their conversation went deeper into types of cake, Ron looked at the ghost, "That's it?" he asked, "She doesn't even _care_?"

He looked more disappointed and hurt, than angry, "So now I'm not even her friend anymore? All I am is some _boy_ she used to-wait . . . she fancied me? When! ?"

The ghost, however, did not answer, as Ron probably could have guessed.

Instead, he just reached across the table, and grabbed Ron's arm once more. It appeared that this was all the ghost had to show Ron in the future that had to do with Hermione. That's when he realized that, to _this_ Hermione, all he was, was a childhood memory. Just someone she used to go to school with. Someone she never thought about anymore.

They reappeared inside a small apartment. As soon as they did, the door opened. It was Ron again, much older than he was at the wedding, and looking more miserable.

He immediately sat down on the sofa, staring mindlessly at the fire already blazing in the fireplace.

The current Ron looked at his older self, his nose wrinkling at the receeding hair line, "How old am I?" he said more to himself, since by now he wasn't expecting the ghost to actually answer any of his questions.

Eventually, the older Ron reached over to a book shelf, and pulled a book that was on the bottom right corner. It looked like it had not been touched for several years.

As the older Ron flipped through it, the current Ron went over to see what the book was.

It was a photo album. At first, there were several pictures of him and Lavender, but as he got more toward the back of the book, there were pictures of him and his family. Eventually, he stopped at a picture of him, Harry and Hermione, all in their first year. The older Ron was just staring at Hermione. The corners of his lips turned up slightly, but then he just frowned and sighed.

The current Ron looked at the ghost, "This is depressing," he said bluntly, "Why don't I just forget her?"

As the ghost just looked at him, Ron began to think about what he said, and realized that he _couldn't_ just forget Hermione. Not even several years into the future. She was such a big, important part of his life that trying to forget her would be like trying to forget his own family. She _was_ a part of his family-at least he considered her to be-but he definitely didn't have _brotherly_ feelings toward her.

"I can change this, right?" Ron whispered, "All of this?"

The ghost nodded.

"Then please," he whispered again, "take me back. I'm not going to let this happen . . ."

He said the last part more to himself.

The ghost grabbed Ron's arm again. But when Ron opened his eyes, they were not back in the dormitories, as he expected. Instead they were in a cemetary.

"Wha-?"

Before Ron could say anything more, he saw the ghost point to a nearby gravestone.

It said:

_Ronald Bilius Weasley_

_1980-2027_

_Husband of Lavender Weasley_

Ron stared at it, feeling angry and irritated, "I died at fourty-seven! ? And it can't even say '_beloved_ husband of Lavender! ?' What-was that my biggest accomplishment or something! ? Yeah, I'm definitely not letting this happen . . . take me back!"

The ghost just stared at Ron, once again, in his creepy way.

This irritated Ron even further, "Take me back! I have a second chance, don't I! ? I've learned my lesson, alright! ? I'm not going to let Hermione get hurt this time! I'm not going to let her go!"

The ghost merely pointed to the gravestone again.

"Yeah, I saw the bloody gravestone!" Ron yelled, "Now take me back!"

Suddenly, as Ron was getting angry enough to try to hit the ghost, everything around him went black.

* * *

**ObsessedRHShipper**: I'm actually really surprised-and impressed-you guessed the last ghost O_O i honestly didn't think anyone would... you go, glen coco! though i doubt thats your real name...  
Also, I didn't put in the part about Ron and Lavender kissing for the first time because him imitating her was the first thing he did to make her cry, with the actual intentions of making her upset. when he kissed Lavender the first time, i think he only did that to prove to ginny that he had "experience" or whatever.

so...what'd you think of this chapter...? please review!-and i know i say that at the end of every chapter of every story, but...well...you know...review! :D


	5. Chapter 5

Ron's eyes popped open. He quickly sat up and looked across the room at Harry's bed. Harry was in it, and still fast asleep.

"Harry! What day is it! ?" He nearly yelled, as he jumped out of his bed, and ran to the small mirror hanging on the wall.

"Today? Why, Christmas day . . ." he heard Harry mumble from his bed.

"Harry! Snap out of it! What day is it! ?"

Once Harry was more awake, he yawned and sat up, "Yeah, yeah, I know . . . happy birthday."

Then Ron remembered. It was his birthday that day. Looking in the mirror, and seeing that he still resembled a seventeen year old boy, rather than a depressed middle-aged man, he muttered, "Thank God . . . it was just a dream . . ."

But no sooner had the words escaped his than the image of himself in the mirror transformed in the hooded figure that appeared to be a dementor, but Ron recognized as the Ghost of the Future. Then, very quickly, it changed to an evil-looking, smiling Lavender, wearing a veil.

Ron yelped.

Harry jumped, "What! ?"

"Er . . . thought I saw a spider . . ." he answered, lamely.

Rolling his eyes, Harry then said, "Well? Are you going to open your presents?"

"Oh, right." Ron said, walking back to his bed, now noticing the presents on it. Then he said, "But you won't believe the dream I had! It was so . . . real. I could've sworn it was-! Where do you think Hermione is?"

Harry looked at him like he was crazy, "Um . . . probably still in bed, I reckon. It is six thirty, you know . . . why?"

"Oh . . . I just wanted to-er-tell her something . . ."

"That you're sorry, and you want to be friends again?"

"Well . . ." Ron answered, shoving a handful of every flavor beans, from his present pile, into his mouth, "better to try today, than any other day. She might go easy on me since it's my birthday . . ."

As Ron started to open more presents, Harry had gotten out of bed, and began rummaging through his trunk. Ron didn't seem to notice the fact that Harry was not really listening when he announced each gift as he opened them, or him mumbling about Hermione.

After the two of them were dressed, Harry asked at Ron, who was finishing off a box of chocolates, and said, "So . . . you really going to apologize to Hermione today?"

Ron was silent.

After a moment, Harry turned to Ron. His eyes were glazed over, and he was staring out the window.

"Who?" Ron finally responded, dreamily.

Harry raised an eyebrow, "Are you feeling alright?"

"I think . . . Harry, I think I'm in love with her . . ."

"Uh . . . who?" Harry asked, not a hundred percent sure he was talking about his girlfriend.

"Romilda Vane, of course . . ."

* * *

and, well, the end. pretty . . . un-dramatic, but i imagined it continuing, like the original story. Except maybe Ron's just the slightest bit kinder to Hermione :]

also, everything the ghosts showed Ron was kinda-ish, in a way, supposed to be his subconscious. So that may, or may not have been the actual future or present. It was the past, though . . . we were all there . . . we know, we know . . .  
So, ObsessedRHShipper (I feel bad 'cause I feel like I'm singling you out, or something . . . you don't feel like I'm singling you out, do you? I swear I'm not . . . :/), I wanted Ron to see something that would make him be like "Well, sh*t, y'all, I better get my act together and stop being such a d*ck to her." only not quite in those words . . .

hope you enjoyed!

and please rev-well . . . you know the drill . . .


End file.
